About Us

How We Operate

As a think tank, we are part of the civil society of Hong Kong, civil society being defined as the “realm of organized social life that is voluntary, self-generating, (largely) self-supporting, autonomous from the state, and bound by a legal order or set of shared rules.” As such, we will need to think independently of the HKSAR Government; otherwise we will not be able to add value by providing alternative policy options.

Secondly, we agree with prominent political scientist Professor Lucian Pye that “no one has a monopoly on absolute truth and that there can be no single, correct answer to public policy issues.” We are part of the ideological marketplace of Hong Kong and we want to engage other civil society or political organizations in a creative dialogue about the future of Hong Kong. Thirdly, we want to provoke the people of Hong Kong into thinking about what sort of ideal we have of Hong Kong and what sort of society and economy we want to make of Hong Kong in the long term. For this reason, you may find us to be provocative sometimes, or contrarian at others. It is not the aim of think tanks to be crowd-pleasers: think tanks ought to be at the leading edge of knowledge and ideas, and contribute to the intellectual life of the community by being true to their ideals and putting forward positions and perspectives based on what they perceive to be supported by the soundest arguments.

To ensure that Savantas is firmly embedded in the international system and stay in touch with the cutting edge of technological and business innovation, Savantas will be establishing a chapter in the U.S. It will also be recruiting Hong Kong-origin graduates from the best universities in North America to return and work for a better Hong Kong, as well as channelling the contributions of Hong Kong-origin professionals who care about Hong Kong. In the long term, it will consider establishing chapters in other parts of the world where resources so permit.

Notes

1. Larry Diamond, “Toward Democratic Consolidation”, in The Global Resurgence of Democracy (London and Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 228.

2. A remark attributed to Lucian Pye in “Political Science and the Crisis of Authoritarianism”, the presidential address presented on 2 September 1989 at the 85 th meeting of the American Political Science Association in Atlanta, Georgia.

3. Peter Drucker, The Age of Discontinuity – Guidelines to Our Changing Society (New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, 2006), Preface, xiii.